This invention relates to a catch tank assembly for use with abrasive high energy streams and particularly to a catch tank assembly and media transport means to facilitate recovery of spent abrasives and kerf material from operation of an abrasive water jet.
Abrasive water jet streams are useful for cutting parts where more traditional cutting methods are not effective or efficient. Historically, spent abrasives, kerf material, and other offal from operation of an abrasive water jet have been collected in a pit which is dug in the floor. The abrasive water jet is aimed downwardly toward the pit, and waste material is collected in the pit with the pit being cleaned a needed when it gets full. However, these pits are often unsatisfactory since they fill quickly and require frequent cleaning This in turn results in production downtime as well as wasted man power, time and effort. Further, pit cleaning is a less than desirable job.
In the aerospace industry, these waste and offal pits are even less desirable since the kerf materials need to be recovered for proper disposal. This need to recover the kerf is most typically due to the fact that the kerf materials are proprietary materials such as high alloy materials, titanium alloys, and proprietary composites. Above ground tanks have not proven to be satisfactory due to the same aforementioned problems given for pits (i.e frequent cleaning, maintenance problems) and for the additional reason that the residual energy of the abrasive water jet wears holes in the above ground tanks.